Local Authorities and Highways Agencies routinely test their lighting column stock to check the stock's ability to withstand wind loads and/or loss of wall section due to, for example, corrosion.
Such tests are currently carried out using several methods. These include applying an artificial load to a column and measuring deflection, ultrasonic measurement of the wall section of a column and systems using eddy currents to determine the level of corrosion and resulting loss of wall section.
Examples of these methods are disclosed in WO2011/142516A, US2014/0211487A, WO2014/078907A, WO2015/022213A, WO2013/007382A and JP2004125776A.
Whereas these and other currently available methods may be able to provide accurate data and forecasted serviceable lifespans, there are, however, several major disadvantages to these and other known methods.
One such disadvantage is that in all existing systems known to the Applicants there is required a decision to be made concerning the number of columns within a stock to be tested and to what frequency that testing should be undertaken. Testing programs that are set up employing such systems are inevitably not able to take into account localised wind loads or ground conditions.
Although column manufacturers are required to provide a minimum design life of twenty five years there are numerous cases where the column's serviceable life is far less, due to column design and/or localised conditions that are more aggressive than otherwise anticipated.
It can also be the case that the actual installed age of a column is not documented which means that a could be past its projected design life.
Due to years of underfunding in infrastructure, stocks of lighting columns have frequently been found to include significant numbers of columns that are past their design life and therefore need to be tested to ensure they are structurally safe within the public domain. Unfortunately there have been cases of catastrophic failure, some of which have caused injury and even death.
A further disadvantage of known testing methods is that these generally require an operative to visit the installation and verify the structural health of a column. This can be a costly exercise in terms of testing administration and road traffic management. There is also an increase in risk to operatives while testing is carried out. This is particularly the case where the testing site in a hazardous location such as, for example, on central reservations of motorways.
The present invention seeks to provide inter alia an improved method and apparatus for monitoring the structural health of a stock of lighting or like columns that overcomes or at least alleviates problems associated with known methods and apparatus by providing monitoring equipment for location on and for connection to the power source of one or a plurality of columns of a stock of such columns, said monitoring equipment being operable to capture data relevant to the structural health of the columns being monitored and to transmit said data in real time to a remote server for analysis by bespoke software.